Offer version 2 free to all existing customers as compensation.

Neal_K3NC

This stuff is just crazy! The guys who think they know when its coming dont have a single clue whats going on. If people have migrated to the Anan radios, fine for them, its a great radio and I hope they enjoy it. This useless name calling of "kool aid drinkers" is so distasteful, indicating that the propaganda published by Flex is so overwhelmingly false and pervasive that poor **** operators are just swallowing things with no understanding at all.  Flex doesn't publish much information at all,  so where is this propaganda coming from? Its coming from Flex customers who are truly happy with the radio and their manufacturer. You should be so lucky to have kool-aid drinkers feeling that loyal to you or your company! But few do, so what does that say about Flex?

Jay -- N0FB

Steve, I fear that this is a societal trend.  Its not just the lack of patience, its the sense of entitlement which has become so pervasive.  It smacks of a rampant ideology in the EU (and starting to take hold with young adults here in the US). Alas...this is the not the proper forum for discussing my thoughts on this.

Cliff Batson N4CCB

"More people have ascended **** into Heaven than have shipped great software on time." - Jim McCarthy

WA6FXT Mike

SQQ, Lack of full disclosure by FRS? I've never seen the big 3 disclose anything. When was the last disclosure from those vendors? Sheesh! Mike

WA2SQQ

An update on what's the holdup would go very far. I loved my 5k and loving my 6500. Definitely not trolling, but the lack of updates does have many people wondering. If FRS said its going to take 2 more months, because ....would go far. Honesty goes a long way!

Walt - KZ1F

Why would they possibly do that Burt. They know full well everybody on here will pay whatever they ask for 2.0 whenever it comes out....Don't try to bargain with the vendor, you have nothing to offer.

Barry Comer

Guys can we please give this tired old topic a rest? I want 1.4 as well but not until it is ready. Please go enjoy the gear you have and maybe log a new or long lost contact. This and other like threads are getting really old.

Jay -- N0FB

Burt, if I'm not mistaken, the Boston MBTA is a governmental entity.  So this "Day of Free Rides" wasn't really free.  You tax-payers in Mass. paid handsomely for it.  Some bureaucrat just made a decision and tricked you into thinking that something was being given to you free.  

“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.” -- Margaret Thatcher

Walt - KZ1F

TO the folks at Flex...Pse don't get rope-a-doped into releasing anything before it is time. These 'fans' will huff and puff but they will download 1.4 when you release it, regardless of when you release it. Further, they will pay for 2.0 when you give the word you are taking orders.

Walt - KZ1F

As far as 'compensation'..for what? Where are the damages? You bought a radio, you got a radio. Further, you got a radio that works REALLY well, according to Rob Sherwood and ARRL Labs. I've never seen such entitlement displayed.

Jay Nation

One thing I'm still not clear on exactly. Flex knows exactly how long it takes. How? That would require a lot of Weird. If they can predict the future that good. Why are they selling radios? 
Check the timestamp on the installer when you get it. That's a more accurate prediction of when it will be available. 

Jay Nation

If it would only stay tired and old,  we could all rest. 

Steve K9ZW

Thank you Richard, I had thought the only foibles of the British Ham was the ability to somehow look forward to, participate in without losing it, and then actually reminisce about their radio club's AGM (Annual General Meeting)....  I now make sure I don't visit a club when their are doing that process!

Now on the upside serving pints of Bitter at meetings was a certain plus!  (Can I admit that I rather liked the more rare Mild also?!).

Seriously whether there was some non-FRS claims made by the dealers in the UK, or some odd wishful story made the rounds, some UK hams bought into an unofficial timeline that FRS never committed to, nor could in any way their communications here be considered inadequate in explaining what the actually situation was if the UK ham had only looked.

These UK hams have a valid beef with whoever made promises to them, but are completely mistaken if they think FRS would be obligated or <gasp> somehow even owe compensation for fairytales they have been told or are telling themselves.

And for those who never did any primary research, like checking out the easy to access FRS website, this community or simply directly communicating with FRS, well what can we say....  Ignoring the official sources of information is never very satisfactory.

Owning a 5000, a 6300 and a 6700 (and other radios including a new Hilberling) I can say that if you have a Flex Signature Series you not only have a fabulous radio, but you have a radio that is going to keep growing in capability.  Seeing where my 6700 has moved since being the 11th pre-release radio delivered to the present has been a fantastic experience.  By every accounting 1.4 should rock and include features originally scheduled for 1.5

I prepaid for my initial upgrades as part of my order made just hours after the Signature Series was launched well knowing that the software rollout would have the potential to take a while. 

As always if you feel your operating style absolutely needs features that are not included in an existing release of software, whether your candidate radio is FRS or some other brand, do some heart searching whether you want to buy now knowing what you really want is done the road, or keep your purse shut until the product as you want it is ready.

The hardware is not the important part in the purchase timing decision, rather it is the software that should be your driver.

Very sorry if some UK hams were pushed to buy by aggressive salesmen and dealers in their country, but that is their fault - and actually if I pulled a **** like that I would be quiet about rather than posting rants admitting I didn't do my homework before buying.  

My 2-cents,

73

Steve
K9ZW

Bill -VA3WTB

Did anyone not read this new post last week? From Flex
We appreciate that you have been a long time supporter of FlexRadio.  

There is not a great deal that I can add other than what Steve and I have posted here before.  I will, however summarize a few points that have been made here on multiple previous occasions:

1. We first published a public road map for SmartSDR in the summer of 2013.  V1.0, v1.1, and v1.2, were exactly on schedule from the first dates published.  v1.3 was only two weeks later that the date originally published over a year earlier.  
2. v1.4 is the only release that was materially later than the first published road map.  That is based on the original estimate made in the summer of 2013!  
   
3. The reason v1.3 was two weeks late is that we applied engineering resources to perform preliminary research for v1.4 in the area of LAN remote data compression and the Waveform API/FreeDV during the v1.3 release cycle.  
4. This past October we announced our intent to do a v1.5 release that focuses on noise/interference mitigation enhancements along with system performance enhancements. 
   
5. As we went into full development of v1.4, we decided that we should perform end to end system performance tuning that we had originally planned to do in v1.5.  As Steve reported a few days ago, this is a real time, multiprocessor client/server system with over 40 parallel threads.  We performed significant surgery under the cover that has radically increased end to end system performance as well as decreasing the PC power required for the client.  When you do that kind of surgery, it requires significant stability testing and debug cycles.  This cannot be rushed.  
6. v1.4 is running now on low end PCs that completely choke on v1.3.8.  My i7 went from 70% loading on 8 cores with v1.3.8 to under 15% loading on only 4 cores with the v1.4 test release.  That is running with 8 panadapters, 8 slices, and 8 DAX streams.  Network loading with 8 slices running remote LAN without DAX is running only ~8 Mbps.
7. We have been unwilling to release v1.4 until we are satisfied with its stability and reliability.  I stand by that decision unequivocally.  
   
8. The current test release of v1.4 is now very stable but I will not give a date for release.  On the day we release we will put out a public announcement through the Flex Insider.
9. The engineering team has now moved to planning and design for the next point release.
10. We are planning to move to shorter release cycles beginning with the next release.  That means more frequent but smaller releases (a.k.a. Agile).  It also means that there are likely to be more point releases than in the past.

James, I will not answer the specific internal business questions you posed because I am unwilling to give that information to my competitors.  However, I will tell you that the gross margin generated from the radio you purchased only paid for a very small fraction of the engineering team overhead within the specific month you purchased the radio.  At this point adding resources will not speed the process just as 9 women can't have a baby in one month.

This will be the last post I make on this subject until v1.4 ships.  ;>)

73,

tompanderson

Excellent response Bill! Really looking forward to 1.4. Tom

Jerry W2TXB

As does mine, and as do most every other's out there. I personally do not want Flex to substitute speed (or release) for quality. I see that sort of thing in my ER every so often when folks come in and think they will be done and out within less than an hour (like the TV show "ER"... everybody is in, done, and out in 54 minutes or less ). What do they want us to "shortcut" on, and will they accept less than excellent results if we did shortcut their care? The same applies here, and most of us are apparently OK with waiting longer for a better product, as it is costing us nothing more than we have already spent.

Brian Morgan VK7RR

I find this whole discussion quite disappointing. Yes,  I agree that waiting for 1.4 is tiresome but does anyone want another 1.3.8 which may have been released too early because of similar complaints. For me, I would rather that 1.4 takes as long as is necessary to achieve what is desired with it, rather than being released with the risk of having bugs in it. As for discounts anyone who is not happy with SmartSDR releases can always write their own code. I wonder how long that will take!
To all those at Flex I say, don't be diverted by complaints about the "delay" in release of v1,4, but let us hope that this extra time has allowed for v1.3.8 to be given an honourable farewell.
73 Brian VK7RR/4

M0GVZ

Yes I did read what Gerald wrote. And I read what was written in January. And December. And every previous month. Its still 5 months behind schedule. They started it before they released 1.3 back in July. By the time it gets released, assuming it ever sees the light of day, it'll have been in development longer than the gestation period of a baby which is ridiculous for a point release.

M0GVZ

"I just can't believe there are so many impatient people."

Complaining about something which is 5 months late and 2 months after it was last promised has nothing at all to do with being impatient. Impatient would've been complaining about it not being released in October or November.

M0GVZ

I doubt I'll still own it by then. Remote operation was the sole reason I bought it, my personal circumstances pretty much requiring it. I was happy to wait 6 months from when I bought my Flex for it to be released. I was even OK, albeit a bit disappointed when it was delayed and promised some time in January. That went to quite disappointed after the end of January to outright fed up and making the decision that given I've only been able to get maybe 12 contacts in since Christmas that I may as well sell up. I've missed one contest I enjoy doing as a direct result of the delay, I'll be missing another in a couple of weeks by the looks of things. 

If 1.4 turns up before I've sold it I'll carry on - remote op is the only thing I want, I don't give a toss about FreeDV, FM or anything else.

If 1.4 doesn't turn up before I've sold it I'll use the funds to buy a pair of Remoterig boxes for my TS480 if I'm not totally cheesed off by then and just decide to chuck the entire hobby.

By all means feel free to call me a kool-aid drinker or whatever the latest insults are on the forum, I'm long past caring.

M0JUE

A poor workman blames his tools ?.

KY6LA_Howard

@M0GVZ

I think you are misunderstanding the roadmap. Nothing was "PROMISSED"

The. Roadmap was best guess ESTIMATED delivery

You were totally spoiled by the fact that Flex met or came very close to Best. guess dates for v1.0-1.3. Personally in my 50+ years around computers I have never seen anyone ever come so close to their initial best guesses.

It is virtually impossible to predict how long something will take to develop when you are INVENTING something that has never been invented before. There are just too many unpredictable unknowns that need to be identified, solutions found and tested and then tested against previous systems to make sure ithe new solutions don't create new problems.

The reason Flex will no longer provide best guess dates in the future is due to complaints like yours and others who don't understand the software development process. So you only have to blame yourself if you are. Kept in the dark in the future..

Frankly unless you have actually invented a complex system yourself, I really do not think most people are able to understand the difficulties involved, the unexpected issues that crop up and the interactions that cause other issues. So they end up, like you, thinking best guesses are promises. Nothing was PROMISSED.

KY6LA_Howard

BTW. Cool aid drinkers mean "the FaithFul" after the Jonestown Religious fanatics who drank poisoned Cool Aid. I think we had this remote discussion before. I travel a great deal so I operate WAN remote all the time. No I do not. Do CW but SSb and digital work great for me remotely. Even worked several contests albeit not as fast as at home. LAN remote is easily achieved I am diong it now in my house. As I have multiple computers on my network running SSDR Audio via DAX is good enough on LAN or fast WAN, 4G LTE and even very fast 3G. Would I love native WAN/LAN. Absolutely. But I have hundredes of Q running iPad WAN Remote and running LAN remote. So far , of all the radios I have remoted,,the 6700 is the easiest.

Steve K9ZW

Conor you've written lavishly about how your new Flex has been outclassing your prior gear, the ability to use features like slices, and not a peep on remoting. Sure doesn't read from your QRZ write up that you bought your Flex ONLY to use a feature soon to rolled out, and that you've had great luck with your rig. Hoping you hang in for the upcoming release, especially after your wait and this less than fun thread. Beautiful part of your country you're in, I did trade shows in Hull when living in Manchester. Wish I had been on the air back then. Again hope you remain in patience like all of us. 73

Barry Comer

Well said - 1.4 will be great followed by 1.5 when ready. Paying for 2.0 is not a problem since it helps to ensure the long term support of my awesome 6500. Now to actually go use my radio instead of hanging out in a forum group.

DrTeeth

@ Steve,

In some defence of my country's retailers, they may have overegged the update/upgrade schedule, but there was some discussion a while back back if the Flex 6xxx actually had working FM. The Flex site *still* has FM specs in their official web pages giving the impression that it is available NOW - in spite this having been pointed out to them on this forum. Some hams bought on that basis.

The only rumour I have heard about 1.4 features is that FreeDV/Waveform API was meant to be in, then it was out, and then in again. v1.5 is going to be like a Star Trek episode- it will go where no man has gone before, in that the enhancements to NB etc will be using novel techniques (and hopefully some UI enhancements).

Ian1

Babbling nonsense.

It sounds like a thread that was written by Hams with to much free time and have a sedentary lifestyle.

The Flex 6000 series even with no updates is so far ahead of it's competition anyone who uses just a radio without a bunch of add on to enhance a regular radio will know this.

Why don't you guys just relax, whatever time it takes so be it. Go do something else rather then whine about a delay in a update release.


My 2 Cents
Ian

Bill -VA3WTB

I agree, I have been wondering why many of us even took the time to respond to this wast. I am going to make an effort not to bother in the future. This complaining has no effect on the outcome and it only confirms there are some who really have no clue. And when version 1.4 does come out these people will look very silly.

Jay -- N0FB

Connor -- M0GVZ...there were no promises 2 years ago or 2 months ago.  These were best guess estimates...no promises...no contracts.  If you construed the road map as being a promise, then you have only yourself to deal with.

Jay -- N0FB

Bill, In my estimation, they already look very silly.